Learning

This morning we started with an alphabet rhyme from A to Z. I saw it in a movie or a show a few days ago (though I can not remember where exactly) and thought it would be a fun way to start the day. We sat in a circle and went around alphabetically completing the phrase- goes something like this:

Allie went to Alaska with Apples-Bob went to the Bahamas with Brussel sprouts, all the way to -Zander went to Zimbabwe with Zebras!

Some letters were pretty hard! 🙂

We then listened to an audio book about a Dragon, a story called Dragon Rider . Dragons must find refuge as the humans are planning to destroy their valley, on his journey he meets a boy named Ben and they become a team!

Liam then went on to finish the last two chapters in his podcast he’s been listening to. He really enjoyed it and learned a lot of science and history along the way. Luke and I worked on the “ap” family on Reading Eggs, then math in a workbook about Space, which then led to him drawing up his own constellation! -A platypus constellation named “John, the platypus.”

This morning I set out an entire table with some hands on math activities, so they did some work with the geo-board, fractions and multiplication activities.

We have used the Waldorf style multiplication circles before and reintroduced them to Luke who was very young the last time they were out. It is a great skip counting way to practice the multiplication facts. Liam went through each one and showed him and refreshed his memory as well. For Luke’s reference I also had the facts written out in flowers and the completed stars laid out on the table.

The boys also read a short multiplication “M” poem out of our LMNOP book and watched some birds out back for a bit, then they made their lunch and listened to an American History Story about the start of the revolutionary war based on how taxes currently work in our society.

And, that wraps up our morning, I’m sure there will be some Minecraft played this afternoon as it has made a big come back in this house!

I have looked at and read through this program: Five In A Row so many times in the past and just love the overall concept! As of today, Luke is starting with Before Five a Row and Liam will try Five in a Row or perhaps Beyond Five in a Row depending on the concepts and lessons (I’m not sure at this point where to start with him) I plan to add additional activities into the Unit, however I think with Liam since I feel we’ve been all over the place this year, I’ll wait and fully decide what to do by September. For now I will take what has already been planned for this year and squeeze the two together as possible.

Anyhow, this is a Unit study program, one book read for the whole week, with corresponding lessons! This seems to be the perfect package for me! What do we do when we get new books? read them over and over!! I have always loved a Unit Themed lesson from my days as a teacher in Early Childhood and everything I’ve learned through studying the Charlotte Mason method, I’m hopeful that I’ve found that perfect cozy, practical and engaging curriculum I’ve been struggling with this year.- That I’m thrilled to try this out!!I love the CM approach but I tend to get overwhelmed with so many books in front of me trying to cover all the topics, that I feel one book with corresponding lessons will not feel so daunting and “choppy” if you will.

I signed up for a membership and was allowed access to some samples called “fold and learn”. I am going to use these and if all goes well (with my high hopes) I will then purchase the actual products.

So for today Luke kicked off his first lesson with the Goodnight Moon fold and learn. This is one of his and my favorite books of all time. The fold and learn can easily be made into a folder or box activity after the week is through for him to go back to at anytime as will fill it this week with the activities etc. I read him the story this morning as he practically read it along with me 🙂 (see, repetition works! ) Great Cognitive learning! As I read the story I asked him to find the language card that corresponded with the story. I then went through each one and we practiced rhyming words like clock and sock! Like I said I will add my own ideas and activities and we just happened to have a Goodnight Moon number matching game that we did this afternoon.

Looks like tomorrow we’ll be working on an art activity and some science too. I already requested the book A Pair of Red Clogs for Liam for next week from the library since I had already planned on teaching him about the Eastern Hemisphere in Geography. This story has a fold and learn to go with it, so we’ll just add it or replace it with some things I had previously planned. I’m thinking/hoping he will enjoy this type of lessons. Units can be so fun and you can really get in depth with a subject they truly find interesting!

If anyone reads this that has previous experience with this program I’d love to hear any comments you have!